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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:05]
B
Please welcome to IHIP news, U. S Congressman from California, Representative Robert Garcia. Welcome back. Happy to be here to tell you I have so much faith in you. I've kind of lost my lester for a lot of the Democratic leadership because they're not fighting. But I see you every day, you're in there, you're not giving up, you have just kept your foot on the neck of this epsting file. So I just want to say thank you for doing that. And will you explain to our listeners how we got this birthday book because DOJ just flat out is not turning over like they're supposed to.
- [00:44]
A
That's absolutely right. I mean first, you know, let me just say that I hope people realize that what's going on right now with the Epstein files is a massive White House cover up. And Jeffrey Epstein ran essentially the, in modern day the largest sex trafficking ring not just in this country, but it involved people that are incredibly wealthy from around the world. And so this is a really important moment for us to show, especially young women and girls that we take violence against women and children seriously, that powerful men have to be taken on and there has to be justice for these survivors. And so it's really important and I hope people really, really get that. And it's clear that Donald Trump of course is hiding something now as it relates to the birthday book. So we of course Democrats on the committee obviously leading oversight Democrats. I've only been doing it for a couple months now. I'm really excited about the work. And we quickly forced a subpoena vote on one of our committees. We got some Republicans to come along to actually get a vote on big chunks of the Epstein files. And the DOJ of course has slow walked that. So what we've been doing instead of course is going to other sources including the Epstein estate, which of course is outside the government and asking for documents, demanding that they give us what they have. And that's been working. And so we ended up getting this birthday book which of course included this note, note that Donald Trump to be clear, said did not exist. I mean multiple times he said, oh, it didn't exist, it doesn't exist. Then we showed the actual note which was of course quite sick and said some, I think kind of disturbing things. Now he's claiming that it's not his note, that no, he could have never have written that and it's not his signature, which of course we know is complete bullshit because it's been looked at from forensic experts. It's clearly his signature. Anyone with vision can Actually, of course, see that. And so I think the White House is in panic mode. I think they just want to not get the files released. They are stalling all the information. And it's because Donald Trump is protecting a pedophile sex trafficking ring that clearly many powerful, wealthy political men have been involved with. And it's time for this cover up to end.
- [02:57]
B
I completely agree. One thing I want to talk to you about, the government shutdown. But one real quick question. I know that Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal was denied, signed by the Supreme Court. I know that you have sought to redepose her by subpoena. What do you make of these reports from the prison that she had a VIP guest? We know Todd Blanch went down there before she got transferred. Now we're hearing at this new facility she had a VIP guest. What are you hearing about that in terms of who the visitor was and why?
- [03:29]
A
Totally outrageous. And clearly there is a scandal here.
- [03:33]
B
Yes, one.
- [03:34]
A
I mean, look, Todd Blanch is Donald Trump's former personal lawyer. His personal attorney is now the Deputy AG at the doj. Todd Planch gets sent. The White House refuses to say by who. Of course, we know by who.
- [03:48]
B
Right.
- [03:49]
A
Want to meet Ghislaine Maxwell at what was a maximum security facility, sits down with her, lets her tell her side of the story. She, of course, wants a pardon from Donald Trump. So we can assume she's going to say whatever Donald Trump wants. And then for no reason, which the Federal Bureau of Prisons can't explain, no one at the OJ Will give us an answer. They move her to, you know, this, this kind of much more luxurious facility where she has much more freedom of movement of which her level of crime should. Was not eligible for transfer to this other facility, but that's happened because the White House and the DOJ demanded it. And of course, they want her to essentially create a story that exonerates Donald Trump. And there's no question there. And so now we're hearing, and we're hearing from, from inmates, we're hearing from other sources that she is getting favorable treatment. There's freedom of movement. She's perhaps meeting with other folks, which we don't know who the, who those folks are yet, but we are investigating this and we're demanding those answers. And you can best believe that we're going to stay on this. There is no question that this issue is critically important for there to be transparency and truth for all of these women and survivors. And so we're going to stay on this. Ghislaine Maxwell should in no way get a pardon or any type of favorable treatment. This woman is a monster. She herself, not only is she a liar, she's a sex trafficker. She herself has caused violence to women and children. I've heard directly from survivors. I mean, I've looked these survivors, you know, face to face where they've told me stories of Ghislaine Maxwell grooming them as children. In fact, one of them meeting her in Mar a Lago and then taking her to go see Jeffrey Epstein at his apartment. It's just disgusting and it should make all Americans upset.
- [05:41]
B
It is disgusting. Here's the thing. You have Mike Johnson, who is the leader of the majority leader in Congress, okay? He is the biggest hypocrite on the planet. We call him Moses Mike because he says he's Moses. God told him he was Moses. But I look at him. He comes out of that meeting with survivors and he sat there for two hours and listened to their stories. Yet he single handedly could get all of these records if he wanted. He could issue the subpoena himself. Correct. He wouldn't have to have a dis. The petition you're trying to get signed. So now the government is shut down. He's refusing to talk about it. I know there's several different reasons, but he's not swearing in this new representative from Arizona. In your mind, there's lots of factors to the Project 2025 factor. There's, you know, purging Democrats from civil service. How much of this government shutdown do you attribute to the Epstein files?
- [06:38]
A
Oh, I think there's no question that Mike Johnson doesn't want to deal with the Epstein files, doesn't want Adelita Grijalva sat because she would be the 218th vote to force a vote across the entire House of Representatives to actually release the files. And that would have to put every single Republican on record of whether or not they believe that these files should be made public to the, to the American people and to the Congress. And so Mike Johnson is running scared around the Epstein files, which is why a big part of why this government is shut down. He. He could be, he could have sworn her in already. He refuses to do it. It is completely ridiculous. Her election, by the way, he initially had said, oh, well, her election is not certified. It's now certified. She. She should be having representation. She needs to be there to represent her people. And so it is. It's hypocritical. I think Mike Johnson is clearly playing a little defense here for Donald Trump, we know he's taking his orders directly from the President. There is, there is no question. The President, who was Jeffrey Epstein's best friend, according to Jeffrey Epstein, literal in quotes, his best friend of over 10 years, Jeffrey Epstein, had a picture of Donald Trump on his desk that he stared at every single day. And you're telling me that the President had no idea of what Jeffrey Epstein was involved with, that all these girls, these underage children were being raped and exploited and the violence against them, that somehow no one knew it was happening? Give me a break.
- [08:07]
B
It's, it's so off putting, like the hoax. These women are lying because these are real victims. These are people that have been suffering their entire lives because of this. But I look at this admitted administration, you start with Donald Trump, you see all, you know, the, all of the verdicts against him. He's an adjudicated rapist. You've got Pete Heath, like, it doesn't surprise me at all that crimes against women and diminishing victims that are women is something that's so easy for them to do. So how do you communicate, you know, we're really trying to prop up, like women should report. How do you communicate that to these women that are already testified, come to Congress and then women at large regarding reporting.
- [08:54]
A
So I'll say first, I've had a chance to talk one on one with many of the survivors. They are so grateful that we are talking about their stories, that we're uplifting them, that folks in the media and on podcasts and on YouTube and everywhere else are talking about their story. They're genuinely so thankful that they're, that they're not being swept away by the American public. And at the same time, we know that there are millions and millions of young girls across the country right now that are watching this and saying, are powerful men just able to walk away after committing this level of abuse and violence? And so what I've told, like my colleagues in Congress, especially early on, when maybe a lot of folks maybe didn't want to talk about Epstein files or they thought it was a distraction. I've said from day one, this is not a distraction. This is at the center of Donald Trump's betrayal to the American public. And it's about character. It's about a cover up at the highest levels of government involving the most powerful men in the country. And they deserve to be exposed. And I'll tell you now what I've told a lot of the women is I've told them I don't give a fuck who these people are, I don't care what political party they're in. I don't care if they were very powerful people in the Democratic Party or how much wealth they have. Who cares if they've caused harm? They have to be exposed, and there has to be justice.
- [10:17]
B
I completely agree. Okay. One thing I. I ask people that come on to talk about Epstein. You hear about. He had video cameras in every room. And you heard Howard Lutnick, of all people, saying that he. There were videos. Jeffrey Epstein was a blackmailer. Do you know if those videotapes are still in the possession of the Department of Justice? My bet is Pam Bondi and her cronies have gotten rid of those or destroyed. Do you have any sense of where those videos are now?
- [10:50]
A
So we think the DOJ has. We know they have an enormous amount of evidence, and within those files, there are videos and there are photos which they have in their possession. As far as exactly which ones, we are trying to get all those. Of course, what I will say is Pam Bondi should be very, very careful, because it's not just Pam Bondi and Kash Patel that have probably seen all of the footage and the pictures we're talking about. There have been hundreds and hundreds of FBI agents and others that have been involved in the collection of materials. They understand the law. These are, in most cases, very good public servants that are loyal to the Constitution. And so I think they understand that there's been a lot of people that have seen or aware of different types of evidence. And so Pam Bondi will be held accountable for her actions as Attorney General. She will not be Attorney General forever. The Oversight Committee and Democrats on our committee will have the chairmanship and the gavel and the ability to subpoena and collect any documents at any time once we get to the majority. So I think they have to understand that they need, in this moment to do the right thing. All of that evidence needs to be preserved. Am I confident of it? Absolutely not. This is a corrupt group of lying and scheming individuals. But we've got to push for it, and it's important for us to keep.
- [12:16]
B
Talking about it now. I completely agree. And then on the government shutdown, do you see light at the end of the tunnel? I mean, it's hard for me to believe that they have any interest in bringing back the federal government. What. What's your take from the inside the Beltway?
- [12:33]
A
I mean, look, I think what people need to understand is why we're in this fight and why. Why I'm dug in and so many others is all people are people seeing right now are their costs going up and they're seeing their costs at home, their rents going up, they're looking at their mortgage, they're looking at their grocery costs. And now their healthcare costs are going to dramatically increase. You are seeing right now people getting mail in every day and daily that are, that is saying, you know what, in a few months, your premiums on your Affordable Care act, your insurance is actually going skyrocket, in some cases more than double what they're currently paying right now. We have to say enough. We cannot allow Donald Trump not just destroy our institutions, but destroy people's health care. And so which is why I think we have to stand tall and why we've we're, you know, every day encouraging Chuck Schumer on the Senate side who of course caved the last time, stand strong and to ensure that we do not give in to what the Republicans want and, and not really stand tall in this fight for health care. So we've got to dig in. And I look, I think Republicans want to see the government destroyed and there's people within the Trump government at, at, at OMB and others that probably want to have a shutdown for as long as possible. Shutdowns are harmful to people. I think we can all recognize that. But doubling costs for health care is also very harmful. So we've got to stand tall.
- [13:53]
B
Well, and here's the thing, they're doing it so willy nilly, like, okay, Rep. Democrats you don't get funding and Republicans you do. It's so corrupt. The Hatch act violations, all the things. Congressman Robert Garcia, thank you for joining us. Please keep coming back because we want to keep the fight for these Epstein files and exposing crimes against women and children in the four. So you are welcome anytime. Keep up the good fight. You give us inspiration. Somebody is out there fighting. So thank you so much.
- [14:25]
A
No, thank you. Thanks for all the great work.